Water Polo
by katie-elise
Summary: Zexion hadn't been planning on falling for the boy who came by recruiting for the water polo team…but now it looks like he's going to have to squash his fears and learn one of the most terrifying sports since jai alai.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Teehee, I had this idea while at an Ultimate Frisbee tourney, and jotted down the notes to write later. So here we go. It's going to be nice, short, concise chapters, but hopefully that means I'll update pretty quick. Reviews are better than Zexion in a Speedo._

_p.s. Jai Alai is freaking terrifying. People die. Like, all the time. You're in this little enclosed room like in racquetball, and you fling a really heavy ball at the other team's heads using a big scoop shaped thing. Yeah.  
_

Water Polo

Zexion shrugged his book bag further up onto his shoulder, cursing himself inwardly for being too stubborn to carry a backpack. They were just so…hideous. But this damned shoulder bag was giving him a bruise on his hip where it hit as he walked, and his shoulder was sore from the weight.

The wind gusted faster, sending even more water droplets careening into Zexion's face, stinging his eyes. Zexion hated rain, loathed it with a passion even. Water was certainly not his favorite element ever; it was almost always cold, and it made him damp. The worst part, though, was the smell. After a hard rain, everything ended up smelling musty. His clothes, his hair, other people, the thick and almost rotting scent clung to everything after a good rain storm.

Finally, Zexion reached the side door of his dorm building, eagerly pushing past into the relatively dry stairwell. Nearly slipping about 10 times on his way up the stairs, he concluded that water was DEFINITELY his least favorite element ever. Never mind that water is necessary to life, and that Zexion himself, just like all humans, was made of about 70% water. He still hated the stuff.

Delicately stepping around the puddles that had accumulated in the hallway, Zexion made it to the safety of his room, locked the door behind him, and immediately plugged in his blow drier. He did his best to dry out his clothes and hair, but ended up having to change anyway. The smell just wouldn't leave. Sighing, Zexion slipped into a dark blue bathrobe and settled in for a night of…well, homework. And boredom. He hadn't made very many friends at college, mostly because he didn't care. Or at least that's what he told himself. In reality, he was shy. Not that he would ever admit to it. Not in a million years.

But the boredom was starting to get oppressing; even his books were failing to keep him sufficiently entertained. Maybe he should join some sort of club. Yeah, that's it. A nice, quiet book club. Where he could lose himself in some novels, and not have to interact with anyone. Wait. Wait wait wait. The point here was to make friends. Or at least acquaintances. With a shudder, Zexion realized that he was going to have to step outside of his comfort zone and join a more interactive club. Perhaps the chess club…

A knock on the door interrupted Zexion's musings, and he laid down his Chemistry book, somewhat peeved by the disturbance. It certainly wasn't anyone he wanted to talk to; having zero friends meant the only visitors he got were trying to get him to go throw pies at professors for a charity event, or the like. So he was pleasantly surprised when he opened the door to the most beautiful boy he had ever seen. Sure the guy had a mohawk…no, wait…a mullet? Whatever. It didn't matter. He was blond and lean and muscular and had probably the deepest blue eyes Zex had ever had the good fortune to encounter.

"Ummm…did I come at a bad time?" Ahh, what a voice. So smooth, but with an underlying strength…huh? Oh, the gorgeous creature had asked him something. "What?" Zexion's words sounded odd to his own ears, like they were stuffed with cotton. "I said, should I come back another time?" Oh. Right. He was still in his bathrobe. That had to look strange. And, now that he thought about it, he still had a glare left on his face, although it was slowly morphing into a slack-jawed gape. That certainly couldn't look too welcoming."No, not at all" Zexion attempted to sound friendly, but it came out kind of flat and stunned.

"Oh, well, great!" the other boy chimed, cheerfully pushing past the awkward moment. " I'm Demyx, and I'm here recruiting for the club water polo team. We're just starting up this year, and we really need members, so it doesn't matter if you haven't played before. Heck, you barely even have to be able to swim! We just really need people, and we can teach you as we go. Practice is Mondays and Thursdays from 9 to 11 at the pool. Whadaya say?" As Demyx fixed him with a hopeful smile, Zexion contemplated saying something along the lines of how he wanted to makeout with this boy, this Demyx kid, to hold him and touch him and run his fingers though his hair, for, oh, the rest of eternity. But some small part of his mind reminded him that that was probably coming on too strong. So he just managed a jerky nod, and wrote his name and e-mail address down on the sheet where Demyx pointed. "Awesome! This is gonna be great. I'll see you at practice Monday!" And with that, the blond boy was gone, and Zexion realized he'd barely even said two words together.

That, and he was now on the water polo team. A sports team. That involved, of all things, water. Zexion could swim, fairly well actually, because he'd wanted to make sure he would never drown. Therefore he'd made certain he learned how to swim at an early age, so that water would not be the end of him. He was convinced that dying any other way would be far superior. And now here he was, joining probably the most ill-suited club for him on campus, all because some cute boy came around recruiting. Some very, extraordinarily cute boy.

Zexion smacked himself on the forehead, sliding his back down the closed door until he was slumped at the bottom. He already knew that he was going to go to practice on Monday. He'd almost definitely make a fool of himself, but he was nearly beyond caring. He didn't want to be crushing on someone…but his hormones were saying differently. So he got up, went over to his computer, and looked up how the heck you play water polo.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: ZEXION. IN. A. SPEEDO. That's it. That's all I have to say. Oh, and you should thank me for this mental image by reviewing. :)_

Zexion couldn't believe this. What kind of hell had he gotten himself into? He craned his head, looking over his shoulder for the hundredth time at his backside in the mirror. Why in heaven's name did playing water polo require wearing a speedo? The things were absolutely ridiculous. He might as well just not wear anything; it'd probably be less embarrassing than this…monstrosity. Someone somewhere had determined that the water polo team's "uniforms", if they could be called that, should have the mascot on the butt. Unfortunately , the school mascot happened to be a sketchy looking pirate, complete with a knife held between his teeth. Not exactly the kind of fellow you'd want occupying your rear-end.

Why did it have to be a pirate? WHY? The first thing that popped into Zexion's head when Demyx stopped by to drop off his speedo, well, besides grabbing the blonde and yanking him into the room, pushing him up against the door and…ahem! Right. Umm, well, besides THAT, the first thing Zexion thought of when he saw the speedo with the pirate on it was the word 'plunder'. He just couldn't help it. That stupid screen-printed pirate on the butt of his new speedo just SCREAMED "ARRRR, me hearties!!! To the port bow! I've come to plunder yea booty!! ARRRR!!!!!!"

Zexion groaned in abject defeat, flopping down on the bed still clad in only his new speedo. He'd never be able to do this. From what he'd read online about water polo, it was a pretty violent sport. People got broken noses so often it was considered a rite of passage. The opposite team sometimes tried to drown you, or pull your suit off, or just plain elbow you in the face. All of this in 14 feet of water. Oh, and you had to wear a speedo with a distinctly creeper-ish pirate on the butt.

But…then there was Demyx. Zexion tried and tried to form excuses in his head for why he couldn't be on the team, but every time he thought of one that just might work, he'd get this vision of how disappointed Demyx would look. The way his eyes would tear up a bit, and his bottom lip jut out and quiver. And Zexion just couldn't bring himself to do that to the man. Plus, there was the consolation prize; Demyx would be wearing a sketchy-pirate speedo, too.

So Zexion pushed himself up from his bed, went into the bathroom, and tried yet again to force his hair into a swim cap.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O

Of course, there was a torrential downpour Monday night, so that Zexion was soaked to the bones even before he made it to the student athletic center. Oh well, at least the pool would be warmer than the driving rain that whipped into his eyes on the way there. Zexion got lost for about 10 minutes in the labyrinth that was the athletic center, and by the time he finally located the men's locker room it was empty, the team already having gone out to the pool. Zexion was a mixture of extremely relieved and utterly disappointed, for reasons he refused to explore further.

Shivering, he changed into his speedo as quickly as humanly possible, actually managing to stuff his wet hair mostly into the swim cap. Glancing once more at the pirate adorning his behind, Zexion took a deep, calming breath, and stepped out to face his fears.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Jovial laughter rang out from two young men walking across campus, their hair giving off a faint scent of chlorine into the night air. Zexion smiled, his eyes bright as he glanced side-long at Demyx, who was walking back to the far side of campus with him.

He still couldn't believe it. He absolutely loved water polo. And it wasn't just the fact that the sight of Demyx in a speedo exceeded even the expectations Zexion's imagination had conjured. Water polo was legitimately fun; he found that he was surprisingly good at it, at least for a rookie, and it helped him let out pent up anger and energy he hadn't known he had. And on top of all that, he found that when he was concentrating on something other than just staying afloat, his fear of water dissipated. With time, he suspected it might disappear altogether.

As they reached Zexion's dorm building, Demyx turned to him, a grin on his face, and pulled Zexion into a quick man-hug, complete with a slap on the back. "You were great today! The team is gonna be so awesome this year!! Oh, and we're having a team bonding night on Friday, so clear your schedule. Xigbar is gonna send a message out later with the details, so make sure you sure up!" Zexion couldn't be positive, but he thought that the other man might have winked at him before turning on his heel and walking off, leaving Zexion to wonder what exactly a water polo players did for team bonding.


End file.
